You Make You're Own Luck, My Ass
by projectfireside
Summary: What made Mimi come to the East Village? A look into her past and into her furture. Will be MimiBenny and then MimiRoger. The first chapter may be a little heavy, so just a warning?
1. Death threats, Baby Doom?

AN: Don't own a damn thing about RENT. This Mimi I'm mostly basing on Daphne Rubin-Vega's Mimi. Oh and remember she IS a stripper. So this is a pretty heavy chapter, so be warned. Hope you guys like the story.

Tonight you can feel the beats of a drum shake the walls. The lights shines on the stage and a guitar enters from somewhere off the sound system in the club. _Oh I am feeling this tonight_, Mimi thought to herself has she stopped kicking the air and started to grind with the pole she was holding onto. Looking onto the crowd she saw the place was pack. Filled for the 7th week in a row. About time this place was filled constantly. I've been here for 3 years and I always work better with an audience. _Time to really step it up_; Mimi thought smiling to herself while pulling on the belt of her robe releasing it off her shoulders. Throwing it to the ground she causally walked down the stairs while dancing here and there. She smiled has the crowd had gone wild with screaming. She'd always known how to make them go crazy.

Running to the next pole she twirled down it and grabbed some of the bills men where shoving in her face and pushed it halfway down her panties so it was still half visible. Running up the few steps that brought her back up to the main stage she joined her friends Becky and Leann who had been keeping everyone else excited, so to speak that is. Grabbing the pole near the edge of the front of the stage she jumped on it and held herself up by her legs criss-crossing tightly against the metal pole.

Facing the people she waved her arms and moved her stomach in rhythm to each other. Still making these motions she remove the top button and strap on her back on her bra like top and let it flow to the ground. The crowd had gotten somehow louder now. Mimi looked back to the crowd, who is still upside down and smiled. She smiled because she knew her dance was almost over with and what that meant.

She grabbed the bar with her hands and released her legs slowly so the boys got a good look at her legs, like they couldn't already. Getting down on the ground she lowered herself slowly letting the men throw all kinds of bills at her. When she reached the ground she raised her arms above her head. She knew this was when breast looked their best and she knew she needed to end this dance with something good. She sat up and crawled over to the other side of the stage. She lied back and brought her legs up to the air. She brought them down and sat up and smiled. The final drum beats where flowing through the club and Mimi brought her leg back up to the air and smiled has the lights disappeared.

As I got up I couldn't help but to smile at the clapping and screaming coming from the crowd. I ran into the back and got my robe by my area in the back. Putting on my robe I went to my locker and pulled out a needle, spoon, and a piece of rubber. Sitting down in front of my mirror I rolled up my sleeve of my robe and tied the rubber around it. Lifting my leg up I pulled a little bag out of my boot. And threw it onto the dresser. Grabbing the spoon I carefully opened the bag and pour some of the powder into the spoon. Pouring a tiny bit of water into it I grabbed the lighter next to me and started to heat it up.

It would still be a little while. I hate this part. The wait puts you on your nerves. The fact that you know that you'll be able to breathe easily in a few moments makes you restless. It wasn't always like this for me. I didn't always rely on this thing. There was a time where I didn't even think I'd touch any of this. Look at me now. I'm sure my mother would be proud. Watching her oldest daughter shooting up in the back of a strip club. How things change.

Looking at the mirror she thought back to her first day here.

Walking off that bus I remember feeling at home. Unlike the 'home' I had just left. Leaving that place had been coming for a while. Everyone saw it, everyone that is but my papá. I still cringe at his reaction and at what he is probably doing to my mamá. She had wanted to get out of there. She had wanted me out of there. She would never admit it but she didn't want any of her babies in that house.

About two nights before I left things had gotten out of hand. My papá had been drinking all day and had now gotten into a pretty bad fight with my mamá. It was these times my sisters and me would stay together. This night I had been reading a story to the girls when the door to our room had been pushed open and our papá had walked in.

From the hall we heard mamá scream, "No, Al don't you dare touch those girls!" In response to hearing this papá turned and shut the door in her face and locked it.

"What do you want?" I said standing up knowing his routine by now. With this he just took his hand and slap me across my cheek sending me to the floor by his side. With me out of his way he turned his attention to the two girls. Outside you could hear mamá screaming to let her in and not to touch any of us. If only she'd just stop talking and accept the fact that she can't do a damn thing about this man.

I looked up to him and watched him raise his hand to strike one of my sisters. They didn't deserve to get hurt- they didn't do a damn thing to this fucker. I got up quickly and pushed him down while saying under my breath, "They didn't do a fucking thing- leave them alone you piece of shit."

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Al said back to me while pushing me to the ground. "Huh? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I'm a fucking person who hates her father, that's who," I said spitting in his face. To this he pushed me down to the fall underneath him despite my tries at staying on top of him to keep him down. In between mumbling things he started to push down the pants I had been wearing. I started to kick and scream at him to stop but soon he just started to violently thrust into me. I had stopped screaming and had taken to biting my bottom lip. After a while I turned to my sister's who were now facing the walls hiding underneath blankets. I can still hear them crying.

Later that night mamá came quietly into my room, careful not to wake anyone up. She knew I'd be up after everything.

"Mimi miel," she whispered in the dark.

"Mamá I'm out of here, tonight is the last night," I said back to her angry.

"I know sweetie, but where are you going to go?"

"Away, I don't care where, New York City, Maryland anywhere but here," Mimi said to her seriously.

"I'll get you a ticket to NYC tomorrow Mimi."


	2. GlitterDeath, likeCribDeath but prettier

AN: Thank you for the review, I promise the whole POV thing will get less confusing. It's going be like mostly from Mimi's POV from now on.

So I guess the next important thing to talk about is The Cat Scratch Club. I had moved into this small loft for about a month before I couldn't afford it anymore. I had tried to get a job that pays decent but no one wanted to hire a 16-year-old girl. I had started to hang out with this girl across the hall named Becky. I told her I was looking for a cheaper apartment and a job.

"Honey, you're not gonna find a damn thing cheaper than what ya got now," she said offering me a glass of water. We always just sat around her loft.

"Then I'mma turn out on the streets soon Becky," I replied to her extremely frustrated by this whole thing.

"No you're not, I got an idea," she said smiling at me.

That girl had started me at the Cat Scratch. She had the ability to talk anyone into anything that they wouldn't normally do in their right mind. At times I blame her for everything that came out of that club, but really, she isn't the one to blame. That first night there awoke everything in me that I was forced to close up back home.

I was told I was just going to do back up dancing. Which meant no stripping. When I first got there I was thankful for that fact. I was so nervous thinking I was gonna fuck up. I had put on these tight blue leather pants and a shinny tan-ish wife beater that was cut short to show off a little more skin. To the side of the stage me and this other dancer named Tori waited to join Becky. I stood there in awe at how much fun she looked to be having- and how good she looked doing it. Within a minute or so Tori was pushing me on stage for our cue.

Running up the stage I ran to the furthest pole and jumped onto it. I pretty much humped the shit out of that thing that night. Getting down I started to do kicks and such. From that moment on I knew I'd fit in here. I knew I'd love here, for the time being at least. I looked at Becky and smiled at her. I had loved hearing the crowd yell at us. Soon enough the final drum beats where pumping through the sound system. By the final beat the three of us had managed to meet at the center to 'strike' the cliché pose. When the lights faded I started to laugh at how much fun that was.

In the back I was getting my stuff together to leave when Becky called me over to her.

"Mimi, you enjoyed tonight?" she said looking down at something on her dresser.

"Fuck yeah," I said back to her.

"Do you feel about stripping tomorrow night?" she said has she pulled her head down and then I heard a snorting type nose.

"I don't know about that," I said looking over to the dresser and saw some white powder. "How cliché are you?"

"What do you mean?" Becky asked rubbing her nose.

"Snorting coke in the back of a strip club?"

"Let me tell you somethin' sweetheart, a place like this will take its toll on you," Becky said looking at me straight in the eye. "So do you wanna strip tomorrow or what?"

"Pays better?" I asked not really caring so much about the money anymore.

"Like you wouldn't believe," she said replying her make-up.

"Good, I'll tell Joey. You heading home now?" she asked.

"Yup," I replied not really listening to her.

"See ya tomorrow Mimi," she said as I walked away towards the door.

I hadn't thought about what Becky said until about a half of a year later. By this time I had became fully financially supported by dancing and it was working great. But around this time the club had evidently taken 'it's toll on me.' I went to work one night extremely hung over and just drenched. I hadn't had a good day and the last thing I wanted to do was get up and dance. Of course I bitched for a minute while I was getting ready- it's always what someone days every night, because usually the night before there is always one of us getting wasted.

"Me, come over here," I heard Becky call over to me.

Walking over I saw she was heating something up on a spoon. "What are you doing Beck?"

Picking up a needle she answered my question with, "Well I am, what you would say shooting up. Well really- you will be."

"I'm not doing that shit Becky," I said as I watched the cocktail be sucked into the needle. Placing the spoon and needle down she picked up a piece of rubber.

"Gimme your arm," she said with her hands out.

"No," I replied holding my arms tight to my stomach. "I'm not doing that shit."

"Firstly, you said you were tired, this shit will make you feel 100 again- I guarantee that. Secondly, doing it once won't kill you," she said and I eventually gave her my arm. She tied the piece of rubber around my upper arm and started slapping the part by the elbow. She picked up the needle and looked at me.

"This may hurt a little, not sure with you," she said has she inserted the needle into my vein. This whole process was extremely uncomfortable for me. I needle had hurt… a little. But soon I felt something flow through me. Watching as she took the needle out of my arm I felt something close to relief, but not quite that.

"Feel better?" Becky said smiling while she started to pick up. I nodded and heard my name being called for it was my cue. That night I had danced like my first night there.

At first I had only used it when I was extremely tired and hung over. With this case I would just buy it off Becky and let her make it and even shoot up for me. About a month and a half I had started to use it at least once a week.


End file.
